Notes
- Operation Barbarossa, code named “Red Beard” was a German attack on Russia on June 1941
- Complete surprise for Russia despite warnings
- Breaks non-aggression pact
- 2000 mile long front
- Blitzkrieg tactics surprise Red Army
- Nazis briefly seen as liberators
- Russian peasants began scorched earth policy (burning all crops and shelters)
- Leningrad was besieged, captured Kiev, reached the Crimea and on the outskirts of Moscow
- Cold winter weather halts Germans
- Almost 2 million Red Army troops taken prisoner
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Summary
Operation Barbarossa, beginning 22 June 1941, was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. Over the course of the operation, about four million soldiers of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front, the largest invasion in the history of warfare.
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Pictures
Political Cartoon
Quotes
“When the attack on Russia starts the world will hold its breath.”
-Hitler
-Hitler
Subjunctive Question
If it appeared that Germany would surely take control of the Soviet Union, would the Allies have come to their rescue?